TREATMENT OPTIONS FOR PTSD

Ms. Carmelitano

Biomedical Treatment

Biomedical treatments are used when PTSD is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain

Antidepressants and Tranquilizers are typically perscribed Valium and Xanax are popular tranquilizers They help regulate the neurotransmitter:

GABA which regulates anxiety levels inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain, it

sends a signal to other cells that subdues them.

Biomedical Treatment

Antidepressants: prescribed because many people with PTSD also suffer from depression Marshall (1994) Improvements in depression contribute to

improvement in PTSD – regardless of how the PTSD is treated itself

Cognitive Treatment

CBT: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy CBT works with PSTD when the flashbacks are

related to cognitive processing• FOA (1986) Exposure therapy and psycho-

education Give the patient information about PTSD and then

expose the sufferer to the traumatic event by asking them to describe it over and over again

The goal is to make the patient understand that the trauma is over, and it is safe to talk about it

People suffering from PTSD try to avoid the reminders of the trauma, this will help them overcome this block

Foa Goals of Treating PTSD

1. Create a safe environment that shows that the trauma cannot hurt them

2. Show that remembering the trauma is not equivalent to experiencing it again.

3. Show that anxiety is alleviated over time

4. Acknowledge that experiencing PTSD symptoms does not lead to loss of control.

Keane 1992 – critic of CBT

Argues that patients may become initially worse in the initial stages of therapy.

Therapists may also become upset when hearing about the patients experiences

The Virtual Iraq

Albert Rizzo Used virtual reality to allow soldiers to re-

experience the horrors of war Therapists can manipulate the variables

making them relevant to each individual Flooding

Over-exposure to stressful events This is done to show the patient that stress-

reactions will fade out due to habituation This tendency to have decreased responsiveness to

something you are repeatedly exposed to Power of the cues that trigger the flashbacks will

diminish

Traumatology

A field of psychology developed to help those suffering from a traumatic event

Crisis intervention is put in place with the goal of preventing PTSD Psychologists will go to witnesses of a

traumatic event, and begin the “healing” process right away

However the majority of people that experience a traumatic event never experience PTSD, so its usefulness is up for debate

Mayou et al (2000)

Argues that crisis intervention may do more harm than good

People are best served by the social support of their family when they experience a traumatic event

Strangers forcing a witness to immediately re-live the event may intrusive

It may cause them to lay more concrete memories (through creating a narrative)

Testimonial Psychotherapy

A means of helping patients overcome PTSD through deactivating the “networks of fear.”

It is based on the idea that collective traumatization is not as significant as individual traumatization Meaning, when a person does not feel they

have experienced the event alone, they are less likely to develop PTSD

Testimonial Psychotherapy

Participants are asked to make an oral history to collect, study , and disseminate the survivors memories An oral history is a shared history that is

recorded through speech rather than written down

This is meant to give meaning and purpose to the experience and the survivor (remember Stuker et al 1995)

This allows the survivor to give meaning to the event and to their survival

Weine (1998)

Procedure: Participants: Bosnian refugees diagnosed with the PTSD

symptom scale Testimonials were conducted in Bosnian and translated

into English and then back *back translation) Victims of the Bosnian genocide worked together to

discuss the events they witnessed, and the meaning it had to them as an individual and to them as a group

Findings: The rate of PTSD decreased from 100% to 75% of the

participants After two months it had decreased to 70% After 6 months it had decreased to 53%

Friedman and Schnurr (1996) Aim: Analyze the role of group therapy in treating PTSD Procedure:

Took a sample of 325 veterans of the Vietnam War and placed them into one of three groups: Psycho educational groups which taught: anger management, social

anxiety management, conflict resolution Individual trauma-focused therapy which involved exposure to

traumatic memories, cognitive restructuring and teaching coping skills

Control group: did not engage in discussion about the trauma Findings:

27% of those in the individual therapy reported relief from symptoms

17% of those in the group therapy reported relief from the symptoms

Both did better than those in the control